Celtic0 - 3Juventus

Celtic were given a harsh lesson in Champions League knockout football by the old masters of Juventus.

Brimming with confidence on the back of some tremendous European performances and results, Neil Lennon's Celtic were picked off ruthlessly.

Alessando Matri put the Italian side ahead in the opening moments, taking advantage of poor defending.

Two late goals from Claudio Marchisio and Mirko Vucinic ensured the return leg will surely be a formality.

Celtic in Turin

September 1981 - Juventus 2-0 Celtic

September 2001 - Juventus 3-2 Celtic

Celtic were unable to lift themselves to the heights of the wins over Barcelona and Spartak Moscow in the group stage, although despite conceding an early goal they were dominant for large periods of the last-16 tie.

And as the match moved into its latter stages it was the Scottish team who looked most likely to score again before Juve twice more picked off their tiring opponents to take a firm grip on the contest.

Celtic midfielder Victor Wanyama sent a blistering shot goalwards with only a minute played, which Gigi Buffon turned round the post, as the Scottish side looked to capitalise on their passionate home support.

But with just three minutes gone a straight-forward looking long ball from Federico Peluso exposed the home side's defensive frailties.

Efe Ambrose - straight back in the team after featuring in Nigeria's Africa Cup of Nations success on Sunday - was caught underneath the ball and Matri was able to nudge him aside to slide it through Fraser Forster's legs and over the line, despite Kelvin Wilson's efforts to keep it out.

Celtic's response was to pepper Buffon's goal with shots from outside the box, with the Italian dealing well with efforts by Wanyama and Kris Commons, who also sent a wonderful overhead kick narrowly wide.

But for all their pressure, Celtic did little to truly threaten the Italian goal, while the crowd grew restless as a result of the referee's perceived unwillingness to give decisions in their side's favour, with grappling in the penalty area rarely punished.

Milestones for Juve

Mirko Vucinic scored Juventus' 700th goal in Europe

Juventus equalled their biggest away win in the knock-out phase, after a 4-1 win at Dynamo Kyiv in March 1998

Juve, for their part, looked happy to soak up what Celtic had to throw at them and play on the counter-attack.

The home team's first clear view of goal came with more than an hour on the clock, but when it did materialise it should have brought about the equaliser.

Charlie Mulgrew's curling cross provided Ambrose with the ideal opportunity to atone for his earlier misjudgement, but his header was weak and straight at Buffon.

Celtic were then taught a lesson in incisive football when they fell further behind.

The deftest of touches by Matri found Marchisio, who twisted in from the left of the penalty area to stroke the ball beyond Forster.

Marchisio was heavily involved as Juventus effectively killed the tie with a third goal, putting the ball on a plate for Vucinic to beat the keeper from close range after Ambrose was again at fault and caught in possession.

Juventus sparkled only in flashes, but they did so brightly enough to record an ultimately commanding victory, with Celtic now heading to Turin looking to retain the respect already attained on this season's run.

Comments

ER....yes....well , some EPL fans seem to have lost their way. Maybe the BBC should colour code the topics, green for Celtic , red for Man U. Anyway, back on subject, I thought Celtic played very well, just "out-foxed" by a smarter team. Oh those Italians ! never were ones to let fair play get in the way.

I cannot blame ManU for being a a little reserved, credit to them for not conceding over 1, but Real were awful in the 2nd and have now have 2 treat the return leg professionally and stay 1 goal on top.

Maybe *****VanPersie***** can make a difference in a CL match too, we shall see.

But Real reminded me of Brazil over a week ago, simply lazy after seizing the initiative - poor from the attack!

Kris Commons was very unprofessional to criticise a fellow teammate so publicly as if he is the team manager. Thisis a manager's job to criticise his players not for a fellow player to slag off a team mate like Commons has done.

Yes, but I would say proper ' class ' exists in other leagues. Maybe not so much the French or Dutch ones but they're excused because the stars go where the money, passion or mix of both are now. So Spain, Italy, Germany and England.

The EPL is of course all about the £££'s. 50 of them to get into your average Top5 club stadium in fact.

Its the referee Its the referee Its the referee Its the referee Its the referee Its the referee is all you hear from Celtic whenever things don't go their way like they do in the spl every week. Celtic did not lose to a solitary dodgy goal or penalty last night, they got pumped 3-0 at home.They are clutching at straws big time by suggesting things would be different had it not been for the ref

Typical Lennon and media coverage. All season on the BBC and SKY a weekly topic involving all British games has been.. Holding at corners! Last night was no different than what occurs every saturday the only difference was it involved an Italian team so its the old xenophobia pathetic. Oh and if you look at the game stats Juventus contributed as much as Celtic only they took their chances.

#233 Bradford have done the whole 'EPL' thing, its not all its cracked up to be. One team running away with the league, poor atmosphere and un-educated plastic fans. Proper fans and days out exist in the lower leagues

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